Life Is But A Dream
by Cardinal001
Summary: After the events of Inception Ariadne tries to go back to real life.  Things don't quite work out that way though.
1. LAX

**Disclaimer: Inception, its characters and the actors playing those characters are not owned by me.**

**LAX**

"_This is the Captain speaking. Trans-Pacific flight 934 will shortly be landing at Los Angeles International Airport. Please observe that the fasten seatbelt signs have been lit, and on behalf of the crew, may I thank you for travelling with Trans-Pacific Airlines and we wish you a safe onward journey_."

Ariadne sat back in her first class seat, scarcely daring to believe it. _We've done it!_ she thought to herself. Over the past few hours she had been through more than she ever thought possible and she had lived to tell the tale.

Ariadne put her hand into her pocket and discreetly pulled out her gold bishop. She quietly set it on the table in front of her and knocked it over. The _thunk_ as it landed on it's side served as confirmation that yes, indeed, she had awoken back to real life.

Ariadne stole a brief look around the first class cabin. Robert Fischer was staring out of the window, obviously deep in thought. Ariadne briefly felt a pang of conscience as she thought about what they had done to him but it quickly passed as she glanced at Dom Cobb. His eyes no longer held the haunted look she had seen ever since she met him. The man who had introduced her to this world finally looked at peace with himself. She smiled at him and his mouth twitched in return.

Looking round at the others, Ariadne could see that Eames was fast asleep, and for a moment she worried that he was still in the dream, however the lack of an IV line in his arm told her that he was simply napping. Arthur was sitting forward in his seat, his normally impassive face creased by a huge grin as he met her eyes. Ariadne felt her face starting to go red as she remembered the incident in the dream's second level so she averted her gaze. Yusuf looked decidedly uncomfortable as he headed straight for the cabin's lavatory. Ariadne was unable to see Saito as he was sitting in front of her but the beeps coming from his direction were unmistakeably those of numbers being pushed on his seat's telephone.

They had made it. Against all the odds they had all made it. Ariadne sat back in her chair with a sigh of relief and waited for the plane to land.

…

The plane finally touched down on the runway at Los Angeles International Airport. Once the landing procedures had been completed the doors were opened, allowing the passengers to disembark.

Nobody spoke as they left the plane. There was still the chance that Fischer would recognise them and all their efforts would be for nothing. Only the occasional glance and nod of the head served to show that there was any connection between the small group of people currently leaving the first class cabin.

Ariadne had her passport and forms ready as she approached the immigration desks. As the guard took her paperwork she looked to the desk net to her. She could see Cobb looking tense as the security guard scanned his passport. The tension on his face gave way to relief as the guard returned his passport. Ariadne smiled widely at him. Cobb of course gave no sign that he recognised her.

In the distance Ariadne saw her university professor, who she now knew to be Cobb's father-in-law, waiting to greet Cobb. Miles either didn't see her or he chose not to acknowledge her. Either way she was pleased that he had made the trip from Paris.

At the luggage carousel Ariadne waited impatiently until her bags appeared. When they finally did so she reached out for them, but was beaten by a longer pair of arms.

"Can I help you with those?"

Ariadne turned around and saw Arthur standing next to her. As he helped her with her luggage she smiled broadly at him and he smiled back. For all intents and purposes they looked like two passengers reclaiming their luggage.

"So what happens now?" she asked quietly.

"Now? We all go back to our lives," he replied.

Something inside Ariadne sank as he said that. She had come to see Arthur, Cobb and the others as more than colleagues. After all they had been through they had become her friends and to just walk away and leave it all behind seemed totally unfair.

"Will I ever see any of you again?" she asked, making no effort to keep the disappointment from her voice.

Arthur took her hand in both of his and leaned in close to whisper to her.

"Perhaps. Maybe sooner than you think."

Ariadne felt her cheeks blushing again but the moment passed. Arthur pulled back and let go of her hand. Ariadne looked down and opened her hand. Athur had placed a plane ticket in it. She opened it. It was a flight back to Paris due to leave in two hours time. Ariadne looked up to say something but he was gone. She caught a glimpse of his suit as he headed towards the airport entrance. There was nothing else to do but gather her bags and wait for the plane home.

…

As Ariadne sat and waited in the departure lounge she opened one of her bags and withdrew a sketch pad and a pencil. Even though she might never be involved in a job like that again she still wanted to design buildings and mazes. Opening the pad to a clean page she started to draw. Around her she could hear the sounds of the airport. People were just getting on with their lives. From one side she could hear someone, a man by the sound of his voice, arguing with an airline representative about his father's coffin, which had apparently been misplaced. From somewhere else she could hear voices speaking a foreign language, possibly Korean, as they argued with the customs guards. Something about a large amount of money in their cases. Her mind drifted back over the events of the past few weeks.

After a while Ariadne looked down at the pad. She had started drawing with no real purpose in mind, but was surprised to see that what she had drawn was a very familiar rectangular structure.

_The Penrose Steps. The infinite staircase. Paradox._

His words came back to her as she looked at the picture. It was indeed the staircase which had no end or beginning. Why had she drawn that? Her eye went to one corner of the staircase. Two stick figures were walking up the stairs. One was short, the other tall. The short one appeared to have long hair, the tall one had short hair. It looked like the ends of their arms were joined together.

Ariadne shook her head, ripped out the drawing, scrunched it up into a little ball and threw it on the floor. She was being silly. She barely knew any of them. They had all come together for a job. Nothing more. There was no reason to suppose she might see any of them again, regardless of Arthur's words to her.

But still...

Part of her hoped they would come back. She thought back to the stolen kiss in the lobby of the second dream. Maybe someday...

Her thoughts were interrupted by an announcement that the flight to Paris was now boarding. Ariadne gathered her belongings and made sure she had her passport and tickets to hand. She walked to the departure gate without once looking back.

Unnoticed by her a pair of eyes watched her leave. Arthur went over to where she had been sitting and picked up the ball of paper. Opening it and seeing what it contained he smiled to himself and made his way out, putting the paper into his pocket as he did so.

…

The captain announced that the flight to Paris would last about ten and a half hours. Ariadne found that her ticket entitled her to a seat in the first class cabin. _What else?_ she smiled to herself.

The inflight movie was some comedy about a teenaged girl who had gotten herself pregnant. Ariadne watched the first fifteen minutes of it then she felt her eyes starting to droop. She turned off the screen and lay back in her chair, amused at the irony that she had already spent the last ten or so hours asleep.

As she felt herself drifting off she took her bishop out and tipped it on its side as a final check that this was reality. Minutes later she was fast asleep. Her last thought was to wonder where Arthur was and what he was doing now. And whether or not she would see him again.

The plane flew on, taking her back to Paris, to the university, to her studies and to real life.

* * *

**A/N I've had the idea for this story more or less since the first time I saw Inception. There's just something about these two that draws you in.**

**Oh and another thing, I'm going to play a little game in this fic. Each chapter will reference an episode from a series. There'll be a clue in the chapter - a line of dialogue or a situation - that will come from that episode. See if you can get the reference. If you get it right you won't get a prize, but maybe I'll implant the idea that you've had a prize instead. This first one's pretty easy.**

**Anyway I hope you enjoy this story.**


	2. A Day In The Life

**Disclaimer: Inception, its characters and the actors playing those characters are not owned by me.**

**A Day In The Life**

Ariadne hit the water head first with barely a ripple. She started to swim under the water.

It had actually been very easy to fall back into the old, familiar routines. One of the things Ariadne had liked about this early time was that the university swimming pool was fairly empty. Every morning before breakfast she would come here for an hour or so. She felt that it helped to clear her head. The very first thing she did, the morning after returning to Paris, was to came straight here and swim length after length, as if trying to convince herself that her life really was back to normal and that nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Not very many people knew it but Ariadne used to be quite a keen swimmer when she was at school, spending hour after hour at her local pool. As such she was able to just about make one length without the need to surface for air and this is exactly what she did now. Breaking the surface at the other end of the pool she held on to the side and took several deep breaths to recover, shaking the water out of her eyes.. She smiled to herself.

_Maybe Arthur knew._

Ariadne shook her head sharply and launched off the side into the water again. She couldn't start thinking about him or any of the others. It had been well over a month now and she had to accept that she would probably never hear from any of them again. It was time for her to get back to her own life, and that meant studying to be a 'normal' architect.

And, she suddenly remembered, she needed to call her father. The thought put another dent in her already sombre mood. Her mother had died in a tragic accident when she was only five years old, an event her father had never fully recovered from. Every year on the date of the accident he would take out a photograph of the two of them at their wedding and spend the day in his memories. By a cruel twist of fate that date was also their wedding anniversary, as well as Ariadne's own birthday.

That date was today.

Ariadne climbed out of the pool, the water cascading from her swimsuit and hair. As she grabbed her towel and wrapped it around herself she thought she saw movement through one of the windows. For a brief instant it looked like someone wearing a suit but then it was gone. She decided that the remaining water in her eyes must be blurring her vision. Dabbing herself with her towel, Ariadne headed to the changing rooms.

…

Professor Miles (for some reason Ariadne could never remember his last name) was in full flow, with diagrams showing examples of old gothic architecture. Ariadne, however, was only half paying attention. After her experiences with designing dream worlds, the real world seemed rather flat in comparison.

As she sat with her head in her hand, trying to stay awake, her other hand seemed to be moving of it's own accord, dragging the pen it held across the paper in front of her. Eventually she looked down and was rather startled to see she had drawn a tie, complete with collar at the top. She must have made some sort of noise as some of the other students were looking at her, along with Professor Miles.

"Is everything alright Ariadne?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.

"Uh... yes Professor," she stammered. Miles simply nodded and carried on with his lecture. Ariadne felt her eyes growing heavy and she fought to stay awake.

…

"Ariadne, can I see you in my office for a minute please?" Miles caught Ariadne as she was just leaving the hall. He took her to his office, which was a rather compact room lined with oak panelling.

"Please sit down. Can I get you some tea?" Ariadne nodded and as Miles busied himself with the tea she looked over his desk.

There was a newspaper to one side. Even upside down she could make out the headline and her jaw dropped in surprise.

**FISCHER HEIR BREAKS UP FATHER'S EMPIRE**

Ariadne grabbed the paper and read the article which followed.

_Robert Fischer, son of the late Maurice Fischer, sent shockwaves through the business world today as he announced the dissolution of the Fischer Morrow energy consortium._

"_Progress and innovation can only come from a competitive market," Mr Fischer was quoted as saying, "Without such an environment we become inert and stagnate. It is only through competition with each other that we can create the products and services the public needs."_

_Mr Fischer announced that he would break up the empire into it's component companies, companies which the senior Fischer spent considerable time and wealth absorbing into his own conglomerate. When asked what his father would have thought Mr Fischer responded that his father wanted him to be his own man and make his own way in the world._

_Mr Fischer's biggest competitor, Mr Saito of Saito Industries stated, when asked for an opinion, that he wished Mr Fischer all the best for the new direction he was taking his company and he hoped the future would prove prosperous not only for Mr Fischer, but for the entire world._

Ariadne couldn't believe her eyes. It had happened. The idea they had planted in Fischer's mind had actually happened. The whole question of the morality of the act suddenly returned in force and she felt her head start to spin.

"Are you quite alright my dear?" The voice of the professor suddenly broke into her thoughts.

"Um... yes... yes I'm fine!" Ariadne stammered.

"Well I'm not so sure about that." Miles frowned. "Your performance since you returned has fallen quite a bit. Do you want to talk about it?"

Ariadne couldn't bring herself to speak. Instead she clutched the newspaper even tighter. Miles noticed this.

"Yes, Robert Fischer's move was a shock to everyone. Who would have thought that the son would have ripped up his father's legacy?"

Then the penny dropped. She could see it in his eyes. He narrowed his gaze as he looked at her searchingly.

"Ariadne, did... did you have something to do with this?"

Ariadne nodded and, unable to stop herself, told him the entire story, from the moment he introduced her to Dom Cobb right to the moment she stepped off the plane in Paris.

To her great surprise Miles didn't seem to be angry. Instead he leaned back and chuckled to himself.

"Well, well, well. So you actually pulled off an inception."

Ariadne couldn't help herself. "How can you laugh?" she blurted out, "We may have destroyed that man's future! How can I live with that?"

Miles shook his head. "How you live with it is up to you. But let me tell you something about inception." He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk as he continued. "Dom probably told you that an idea can define or destroy a person," Ariadne nodded as he continued to speak, "Well, part of that depends on whether or not the person has the capacity to have the idea in question himself."

Ariadne's confusion must have shown because Miles spoke again. "Suppose I give an african tribesperson, who has never had any contact with civilisation or technology, the idea to build the largest aircraft known to man. Well, he could never come up with that idea on his own of course as he wouldn't be able to understand what an aircraft is. So the idea would drive him mad and would eventually destroy his sanity. If I gave that idea to an engineering student though..."

Ariadne saw what he was getting at. "The student can understand the idea and he would do everything he could to make it a reality."

"Exactly. It's likely at some point he would have had the idea himself anyway, if only for a moment. Engineering students always try to imagine bigger things anyway. Even if he dismisses it immediately the point is that he is able to imagine and comprehend it."

"So are you saying Robert Fischer may have had the idea to break up the empire anyway?"

Miles nodded. "He must have done at some point, even if only as a way to get back at his father. He would obviously have dismissed it straight away but no idea ever completely vanishes. If anything, all you and the others have done is give it a little push."

"But what about his father? Fischer said he couldn't hear what his father was saying when he was dying. Did he imagine that too?"

Miles shook his head. "No he didn't. The subconscious, as I found out in my work with Dom and Mal, has extremely sensitive ears. Even if at the time we can't make out what someone is saying our subconscious will have registered it and will let us know in it's own good time. For example when we dream."

"Do you mean that all we've really done is open up Fischer's subconscious for him to listen to?"

Miles smiled again. "Precisely. Now whether or not that's something that might cause you a problem to lose sleep over is for you to decide. Not all use of shared dreaming is for such a noble purpose."

Ariadne felt much happier now. She knew it was a cheesy phrase but it really did feel like a huge weight had been lifted from her. She finished her tea and thanked the professor. On her way out he wished her happy birthday.

…

Ariadne had never really made a big thing of her birthday. She only ever rarely mentioned it to anyone. The memories attached to it were too hard to bear, even after all these years. She had certainly never mentioned it to anyone on the team.

It was with great surprise then that she opened the door to her apartment to find several boxes waiting for her. After setting her bag down she grabbed one at random.

The label read _To Ariadne. Happy Birthday. From Yusuf._

Ariadne ripped open the parcel. Inside was a scarf. The label proclaimed it to be handcrafted in Kenya by local craftsmen. She had to admit it was very pretty. She put it on and tied it loosely around her neck. Next she picked up another parcel.

_Just thought you might need some practice. Love Eames._

She opened it and couldn't help laughing. Eames had bought her a large box of Lego.

The next one was from Saito. It was a much thinner box. Ariadne opened it and gasped.

It contained a watch made from white gold. The strap was made from thin links and the face was set with tiny diamonds that caught the light and sparkled. It must have cost more than she could ever hope to earn in five years. Ariadne couldn't help but try it on. It went beautifully with her skin colour. She looked at the label.

_Happy Birthday. May all your dreams come true. Saito._

The last box was from Dom Cobb. Inside was a framed photo of Dom and his two children. They were smiling broadly at the camera. Ariadne resolved to go and visit them when she could. Putting the box down she felt something else move inside it. It was a much smaller box. Puzzled as to what it could be Ariadne opened it. What was inside shocked her.

It was a small metal spinning top. She immediately knew it to be Dom's totem.

Also inside the box was a small piece of paper with a single word written on it.

_Thanks._

Ariadne was surprised and a bit disappointed to find that there was nothing from Arthur. It must have been him after all who tipped off the others to her birthday.

There was a knock at the door.

Ariadne wasn't expecting anyone. She opened the door slowly. She gasped when she saw who was standing outside.

"Happy birthday Ariadne," Arthur said, flashing a smile at her.

* * *

**A/N Many thanks to those of you who favourited/alerted/reviewed the first chapter, which I thought was a bit generic in that it starts where the movie ended in the airport. In some ways it's both good and bad that these characters have very little to no background given in the movie, as it means we can write something original for them, but at the same time we don't have much reference material to work with.**

**Well done to all of you who spotted that Lost was the reference in the previous chapter - the clues were the man arguing about his father's coffin (Jack) and the Koreans with the money (Jin and Sun). Just to clarify, the name of each chapter is taken from an episode title of a series (mostly TV series), and something in each chapter will reference that episode. Your challenge is to spot the series in question. If you need a clue for this one it's a series that ran at about the same time as Lost did.  
**

**And well done to those who spotted that Ariadne was watching Juno on the flight home. I put that in as a shout out to the fantastic Ellen Page, who as I'm sure we all know played both parts so brilliantly.**

**See you all soon!  
**


	3. Faking It

**Disclaimer: Inception, its characters and the actors playing those characters are not owned by me.**

**Faking It**

For a few moments Ariadne could not think of anything to say as she looked at the man standing at her door. She groped in her pocket for her bishop, looking for confirmation that she was not dreaming. Finding it she gripped it tightly and finally her brain was able to kick back into gear.

"Arthur?" she asked still not quite believing what she was seeing, "What are you doing here?"

Arthur smiled slightly. "I came to wish you happy birthday of course. Can I come in?"

Still unsure as to what was happening, Ariadne stood aside and let Arthur enter her flat. As he entered he held out a small parcel. "Oh and I got this for you. I hope you like it."

Ariadne opened it and her eyes grew wide. Inside was a gold necklace. Simple, thin, and obviously very expensive. Ariadne looked up to see Arthur's smile growing a bit wider.

"It's beautiful. Thank you!" she said. Then she frowned. "But you could have sent this. You didn't have to bring it yourself."

Arthur shook his head. "Well, actually, that wasn't the only reason I wanted to see you," Ariadne looked up, wondering what he was going to say. When Arthur didn't continue Ariadne prompted him.

"Well? Why did you come?"

"There's a job if you want it."

When Ariadne didn't respond Arthur carried on speaking. "The mark's name is Karl Emerson. He's a CEO of a powerful oil company. It's a straight extraction. Nothing like the Fischer job. One of his rivals wants..."

"Why are you doing this?" Ariadne suddenly interrupted him, the mention of Fischer bringing back in full force her questions and doubts about the morality of what they had done.

Arthur broke off and looked at her. "Excuse me?"

"Why do you want to live this life? You're a smart man Arthur! You could be doing law or politics! You could be someone important! Why did you choose this?" Ariadne pressed.

Arthur fell silent for a minute then he spoke. "Cobb wanted to get back to his family."

"I know why Cobb did it!" Ariadne snapped, a little too harshly she thought afterwards.

"Well, Yusuf wants to push what can be done in the mind with the serums he uses," Arthur carried on, still obviously avoiding answering the question, "And I know Eames is in it for the money."

"But you!" Before she could stop herself, Ariadne grabbed his hand. "Why do you do it?"

Arthur looked down at the floor. When he finally looked at her she saw his carefully cultivated mask slip and for an instant the true Arthur looked back at her.

"It's the only thing I know," he almost whispered. For a moment they stayed like that, neither daring to speak. Then the mask slammed back down and he pulled his hand away from her. "I'm meeting up with Eames in a week's time. I'll leave the details with you if you want to come."

With that, he turned and left, dropping a piece of paper onto the table near her door.

For a long while Ariadne stood there, not sure what to do. Finally, she picked up the note and looked at what was written on it.

_7pm next Friday._

_32 Baden Road, London._

She turned it over and her eyes widened. The note had been written on her discarded drawing of the Penrose stairs from the airport.

…

"So where is he?" Ariadne asked.

Arthur shrugged and took another sip of his espresso.

Much to his surprise, Ariadne had indeed turned up two days before at the appointed time and place. After exchanging enthusiastic greetings with Eames, who hadn't believed that she would come, they immediately went down to business. The mark – Emerson – was in London on a business trip and the first objective for the team was to tail him to find out his various habits.

"But don't we know those already?" Ariadne had asked. The three of them had been sitting around a table at the warehouse Arthur had rented, looking at a laptop and what little data they had.

Eames shook his head. "There's practically zero public information available on this man. Even our esteemed researcher here," he indicated Arthur, who glowered at him, "Even he can't find anything. This one's locked up tighter than the Bank of England."

"And I bet you've tried to break in there as well," Arthur grumbled under his breath.

"Actually I have. Twice. Got as far as the main vault before the alarms all went off." Eames chuckled at the memory. "Turns out the night shift porter wasn't the best person to impersonate."

Arthur cleared his throat noisily. "The point, Ariadne, is that we know absolutely nothing about Emerson. We don't know where he goes, what he likes to do, what his favourite food is, his favourite pet's name, nothing."

"So what do we do?" Ariadne asked.

"Well it's quite simple." Eames spoke in the condescending voice he used when he felt he was stating the obvious. "We follow him."

And so two days later Ariadne and Arthur were sipping coffee outside a small bar, waiting for their target to walk past. Eames had established that this was the route he took from his hotel to the office he was using.

As they waited Arthur smoothed a crease from his suit. He had chosen a light coloured suit with a dark shirt. To all intents and purposes he looked like a typical american businessman. He looked over at Ariadne. She had chosen clothes more fitting to a student, with a light pink shirt and a red cardigan, matched with a large pair of sunglasses. She was also wearing the scarf that Yusuf had bought for her birthday. The colour went well with her outfit, Arthur decided.

The temperature was remarkably humid for this time of year. Arthur watched as she put one finger inside her scarf and loosened it slightly. Under her open shirt collar he could see a glint of gold and realised she was wearing the necklace he had given her.

As Arthur looked at her he was struck, and not for the first time, by how attractive Ariadne actually was. There was nothing overt or obvious about it, no one thing he could put his finger on, but overall he had to admit that in an quiet, understated way she really was quite pretty.

Not that he could ever admit as much to her of course.

"There he is!" Ariadne's excited voice brought Arthur out of his thoughts and he looked round to where she was pointing. Sure enough, Karl Emerson was walking along the street wearing a black overcoat and carrying a briefcase in one hand. He stopped at one particular door and went inside. Arthur looked up at the sign above the door. It was a video rental store. Emerson reappeared a few moments later and resumed walking along the street.

"Well that's very interesting," he remarked, "I wonder what he was doing in there?"

Before he could say anything else Ariadne abruptly stood up. "What are you doing?" he hissed.

"Improvising," Ariadne said with a sweet smile at him. She then turned and walked across the road into the store.

Arthur shook his head. Ariadne was the most unpredictable person he had ever met. The complete opposite of his well-ordered and organised personality. And he found that he kind of liked it.

…

"Hello, can I help you?"

Ariadne flashed her most dazzling smile at the young man in charge of the store. "Yes, actually, I'm looking for a movie for my kid brother and I'm not too sure what to get him."

"Oh, well maybe I can help you. What is he interested in?"

Ariadne laughed. "Who knows? He's at the age where it seems to change every week. One week it's basketball, another week science-fiction, then there was the time he liked movies about con jobs. You know, like The Sting."

"I see. How old is he?" the assistant asked.

"He's fifteen, nearly sixteen. Does that help?"

"Well let's see... we have the action films over here, science fiction here, and of course the superhero movies here..." As he spoke he ran his eyes over the racks of boxes. He paused in front of one shelf. "Actually, here's one of the latest movies we have." He held out a DVD box to her. "In fact," he continued, "The last person in here before you just returned this one."

_Yes!_ Ariadne thought to herself. Smiling again she took the proffered box. "Thanks, I'm sure it'll be great." She smiled sweetly at the assistant and had the satisfaction of seeing his cheeks start to glow red before she turned and headed towards the door.

"Wait!" Ariadne turned round. The assistant spoke nervously. "Um, if you need any more , I'm sure we have other films like that..."

"Thanks. I'll keep it in mind. See you!" With a final wave she left the shop.

Arthur was waiting for her across the street. "Well?" he said, not wanting to waste any time, "Did you get anything useful?"

Ariadne grinned at him. "Most definitely." To his surprise she linked her arm with his and started walking back to the warehouse. She pretended not to notice his face redden slightly at the contact. Instead she smiled broadly. Today looked like being a very good day.

…

"You're kidding." Arthur couldn't believe his eyes.

"Nope." Ariadne couldn't help grinning all over her face.

Eames just sat and laughed. "Well I've seen some things on jobs but this, well this beats them all!"

"It'll work though won't it?" Ariadne asked, a look of concern appearing on her face and she bit her lip. Arthur caught himself thinking about how cute she looked.

Eames nodded. "Of course it'll work. People tend to dream about movies they've seen. It's very common in fact. It looks like he's crazy about movies. Especially movies like this. We can easily get what we need this way." He looked at Arthur with a smirk growing on his face. "Unless of course you have other things on your mind right now?"

Arthur glared at him, ignoring the questioning look on Ariadne's face. "No I'm fine. Thank you so much for asking." He turned back to Ariadne. "So do you think you can do something with this?"

Ariadne nodded eagerly. "Oh yes. I'll have to watch it a few times to get a feel for the building styles. Maybe even get some more examples to study. You know, so I can get the architectural setting exactly right"

"Oh what a hardship we must all bear! The things we do for our craft!" Eames sighed wearily for dramatic effect, earning him another glare from Arthur.

The movie in question lay on the table in front of them. The title on the box read _Night of the Living Dead_.

"So who's for popcorn?" Ariadne asked, getting up from her chair and getting the laptop. Switching it on and putting the film in, she settled back in her chair to watch. Eames leaned back and folded his arms.

Arthur just shook his head as the film started. "Zombies. I'd never have believed it."

* * *

**A/N The last chapter's series reference was for Battlestar Galactica - in the episode in question Adama takes out a picture of his dead wife and spends the day remembering her. Oh and some stuff happens with a leaking airlock as well.**

**This chapter's reference is a bit more obscure. I've tried to leave enough hints. I****t's a fairly recent UK TV series if that helps.  
**


	4. Death Toll

**Disclaimer: Inception, its characters and the actors playing those characters are not owned by me.**

**Death Toll**

Things moved very quickly after the team discovered Karl Emerson's love of zombie movies. In fact, seven days later – most of which Ariadne spent locked in her room doing "research", which seemed to Arthur to consist of lots of gun noises, screams and swearing – they had a fully formed plan. It was simple enough – get in, battle their way through the mark's subconscious, get the information they needed and get out. The zombie scenario naturally meant that Emerson himself would be helping them.

Ariadne insisted that she be the dreamer. "After all," she said, "What could possibly go wrong?"

And so the next evening the three of them found themselves inside Emerson's hotel room, Eames having done his forger's magic and getting them in as hotel staff. Emerson was already fast asleep and Arthur had already given him a sedative for good measure, administered via a glass of champagne currently sitting on the side table.

"You sure you're up for doing this?" he asked Ariadne. Ariadne nodded. Arthur opened the silver briefcase and started feeding the lines out. Ariadne and Eames each took one and attached it to their wrists and Arthur inserted a line into Emerson's wrist before fitting his own. There was no need for someone to keep watch on them as they reckoned they would only need half an hour of real time to do their business. That would mean six hours in the dream world.

Arthur looked at the other two and they nodded their readiness as they lay on the floor. Arthur sat down, leaning against the wall, and pushed the white plunger in the centre of the case, the familiar cocktail of drugs and chemicals immediately filling his veins and forcing his eyes to close.

…

"You have got to be kidding me." Eames stated.

The four of them – Arthur, Ariadne, Eames and Emerson – were standing in what seemed to be the ruins of a town. Shop fronts were broken, car windows were smashed, debris was burning, and all around them the projections of Emerson's subconscious shuffled around aimlessly. For the moment they seemed to be in no danger and Arthur used the time to look over the others.

Emerson was dressed like an army veteran, complete with green beret and cigar clamped in his mouth. In his hand he was holding an assault rifle. He looked every inch the disgruntled soldier. There was a gleam in his eyes.

Eames was dressed like a biker, looking at home in his black leather jacket. His arms were covered with tattoos and Arthur briefly wondered where Ariadne had gotten the inspiration for this setting. Eames pump the large shotgun he was holding and grinned widely.

Arthur himself was wearing a white shirt, which looked like it had seen better days, and a dark tie. His trousers seemed to come from a dark coloured suit, although right now they were covered with dust and had several large tears. He was carrying an Uzi machine pistol. He turned to look at where Ariadne was standing.

Ariadne was wearing a red leather jacket and had her hair done up in a pony tail. She looked like she was ready for anything and was just finishing loading two pistols. She looked round, saw Arthur watching her and smiled at him. "Looks like we're all set," she said with barely concealed excitement.

It was Emerson who took the lead. "OK kids, there's a church near here where we can hold out for a while. But we're going to have to move quickly. Alright let's go!" Arthur thought that Emerson seemed to be enjoying himself far too much. He readied his Uzi. This was going to become very interesting very soon.

The moment they took a step towards their objective the projections stopped still. As one they turned to the four dreamers and made a noise that sounded like a cross between a hiss and a wail.

"Go, go, go!" Emerson yelled and they started to run just as the projections began moving towards them.

Arthur had been in some difficult situations in dreams in the past, but this was the first time every single projection in the entire dream had been trying to kill him. His Uzi spat hot lead at body after body and still they kept coming. He heard the loud bangs of Eames's shotgun along with Eames's booming laughter. Somebody else was enjoying themselves. Arthur had to admit, it made a change from trying to sneak around the dream world avoiding raising the mark's suspicions. One of the projections came straight at him only for its head to disappear in a red explosion. Arthur saw Eames grin at him as he readied his weapon for the next shot.

Ariadne was loving this as well. She blasted zombie after zombie – she could only think of the projections as zombies – and she never seemed to run out of ammunition. She saw one reach out to grab Eames from behind and immediately shot its hand off. Eames didn't seem to notice as he was busy unloading his own weapon into yet more zombies.

Eames was quite simply having the time of his life as he blew more and more of them to pieces. The knowledge that they were not real people just made it even better. He saw two of them running straight for him and dispatched both with a single shot. This really was something he could get used to. He laughed out loud as he fired his shotgun again and again.

The small group made slow but gradual progress through the ruined town, sometimes needing to stop and hold off the projections while one of them opened up a gate or a door. There was a moment when a stray shot hit a car and set off its alarm, bringing more projections down on them but Emerson quickly despatched them with his assault rifle. As they moved, Arthur stole a glance at Emerson, half expecting him to realise what was really happening but he seemed fully focussed on the hordes around them.

After what felt like hours they finally reached the edge of the town and could make out the church in the distance. It was Eames who spoke for all of them.

"Now, there's a sight for sore eyes, huh? Looks like we're gonna make it kids!"

They ran the rest of the way to the church. Arthur didn't know about the others but he was just about ready for a few minutes to catch his breath.

No such luck. The doors to the church burst open and even more projections poured out. The team was driven to the cemetery, where their true objective lay. The cemetery was dominated by a huge tomb, which dwarfed the gravestones around it. Inside, Arthur knew, would be the information the client wanted from Emerson.

They reached the cemetery and made straight for the tomb. Emerson ran inside, yelling "We need to make sure this position is clear!" Arthur motioned Eames to go after him.

He then turned to Ariadne. "You go in too. I can hold them off here."

Ariadne shook her head. "No you go. I can do this."

Arthur looked at the gates. There were more and more projections now, possibly well over a million, all of them bearing down on the tomb. He turned back to Ariadne. "You won't last five minutes against them! You don't have any guns bigger than those peashooters!"

Ariadne pushed him into the tomb then turned to face the approaching masses. "I don't need any guns. This is my dream. My rules," she said under her breath.

…

Arthur ran along the passage leading deeper into the crypt, eventually coming out into the main chamber. Eames was there already hacking away at a chest with a hammer and chisel.

"Where's Emerson?" Arthur asked.

"He obligingly got himself lost in a little trap Ariadne provided." Eames smirked. "I couldn't see but it looked like some sort of staircase that went on forever."

Arthur nodded then motioned to the chest Eames was working on. "You OK here?"

Eames nodded. "Yep, I've got this. You can head back out to our dear architect if you're so worried about her."

Arthur didn't bother replying as he ran as fast as he could back to the entrance. When he got there the sight that met his eyes was unlike anything he had ever seen, even in dreams.

Ariadne stood with her arms outstretched and her hair billowing round her head. What looked like a whirlwind of dust and gravel surrounded her and, as Arthur watched, the wind ripped up gravestones and flung them at the projections surrounding the cemetery. The trees surrounding them were uprooted and sent flying in all directions.

He saw a group try to outflank her and was about to call out when the ground rose up like a tidal wave and threw them back. More and more of the projections tried to break through only to be repulsed by flying stones, by the earth itself moving against them and by the maelstrom surrounding the small, frail-looking girl orchestrating the chaos.

Arthur was impressed.

He heard Eames come up behind him. "We've got it... Wow."

With an effort, Arthur tore himself from what was happening in front of him and turned to the forger. "Is that all of it?" he asked, indicating a folder in Eames's hand.

Eames nodded. Arthur turned back to Ariadne and raised his as much as he could, trying to be heard over the noise.

"Ariadne! We've got it!"

Ariadne turned to him and nodded once.

Then the world itself exploded.

…

Arthur opened his eyes. He was back in Emerson's hotel room. Eames and Ariadne were waking up as well. Emerson himself was still asleep and would be for another hour at least.

They didn't speak. Instead they gathered their equipment together and left the room. Arthur noticed that Ariadne looked exhausted and helped her down to the car they had left in the hotel's car park.

No words were said until they were back in their workshop. Ariadne went to clear up her stuff while Arthur and Eames sat down with relief.

"Well..." Eames said.

"Indeed." Arthur replied.

"Have you told her yet?" Eames asked. The question caught Arthur completely off guard.

"What?" he asked.

Eames chuckled. "Come on, old darling. I saw how you looked at her. Our little architect seems to have caught your eye, as well as other things. You like her, don't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Arthur blustered, partly wondering if he was trying to convince Eames or himself.

Eames just shook his head and stood up. "Hey Ariadne!" he called. When she appeared Eames motioned towards Arthur. "Arthur here has something to say to you." With that he left.

Ariadne looked at Arthur expectantly.

"Uh... good work today. That was certainly something I've never seen before." Arthur said, hoping she wouldn't notice the slight quiver in his voice.

Ariadne smiled. "Thanks. I've always wanted to see if that was possible. Cobb said we shouldn't make changes to the dream world, but if the projections are already on to us then surely there's no reason not to."

"I'll keep that in mind." Arthur said. "Do you want me to run you back to your hotel room?"

Ariadne shook her head. "No thanks I'll be fine." She turned and left.

Arthur stayed at the workshop for another hour, trying to sort his thoughts out. Eames was absolutely correct. Arthur liked Ariadne but he could never admit it to her. It would never work anyway – they were complete opposites to each other. She was extremely fun and unpredictable to be around though.

…

Arthur left the workshop and walked back to the hotel he was staying at. For security he had booked them all in at different places around London. He pulled out his phone and dialled a number.

"Yes?" a voice answered.

"It's done." Arthur said. "We have the information."

"We know." the voice said. "Payment is already on it's way. In fact, someone is on their way to your architect right at this moment."

There was something about the way the voice said those words that set Arthur on edge. He may not have had much imagination but he did have instincts, and those instincts were telling him that something was very wrong. He changed direction and ran for all he was worth to Ariadne's hotel, hoping and praying that he was wrong.

…

"Alright, alright I'm coming!" The knocking at the door was becoming more and more insistent. Ariadne put down the object she had been looking at on the table near the door and went to open it.

"Yes? Can I help y..."

She never finished the sentence. Without a single word the man at the door raised his gun and shot her in the chest. The force from the impact knocked her down. She flailed about trying to grab on to the table to prevent herself falling but only succeeded in knocking something onto the floor. Through the pain she could see that it was the object she had been holding before answering the door.

Cobb's spinning top.

Hoping against hope that she was somehow still in a dream she painfully extended her hand and managed to start it spinning. The last thing she saw before the darkness took her was the top slowing down and falling over.


	5. Fighing Spirit

**Disclaimer: Inception, its characters and the actors playing those characters are not owned by me.**

**Fighting Spirit**

"We need to get her stabilised. She's lost a lot of blood."

"Looks like the bullet went straight through her. At least we don't have to worry about trying to dig that out!"

"Heart rate is returning to normal. Keep an eye on it though, it may shoot up again. And get that IV over here!"

…

Arthur was pacing up and down in the hospital's waiting room, frequently throwing glances at the door leading to the operating theatre. Eames was sitting in a chair.

"Look Arthur, sit down. You can't do anything for her now."

"It was my fault!" Arthur snapped. "I should have taken more care! I should have taken her home! I should have..."

"Arthur," Eames interrupted, "You did all you could."

"Well it wasn't enough." Arthur paced up to the door, trying to look through the window. He could see the surgeons moving around a bed. He couldn't see the person lying on the bed but he knew exactly who it was. The events of the past few hours replayed themselves in his mind for the hundredth time.

…

Arthur had reached Ariadne's hotel and he went straight up to her room, barging straight past a surprised receptionist. He had tried phoning her but there was no answer – the phone just kept on ringing. When he finally got to her room he noticed that the door was slightly open. Fearing the worst he barged straight in.

"Ariadne!"

She was lying sprawled on the floor, a pool of blood surrounding her. Arthur dropped down to her and began feeling her neck frantically looking for a pulse.

"Please be alive please be alive please be alive..." he kept on murmuring. He finally found a pulse, very weak but it was definitely there. Arthur pulled out his phone and called the emergency services.

"Hello? Yes I need an ambulance immediately. There's been a shooting." He gave the address of the hotel. As he spoke he ripped up his jacket and tried as best he could to staunch the bleeding.

Next he called Eames. "Eames? I'm at Ariadne's. She's been shot. Yes of course I called an ambulance! Look meet me at the hospital. And get in touch with Cobb!"

The ambulance came a few minutes later accompanied by a police car and Ariadne was rushed to the nearest hospital. Arthur answered the officers' questions and they left satisfied that he had not been involved in the incident.

He had spent the following hours after that pacing up and down in the hospital's waiting room.

…

Eventually the door to the operating theatre opened and the doctor stepped out. Arthur immediately went up to him.

"How is she?"

The doctor smiled. "She's very lucky. A few more minutes or half a centimetre across and she would have had no chance. As it was we nearly lost her at one point, but she's a fighter."

"So she's OK?" Eames asked, coming up beside Arthur.

"Well she's stable now. We're moving her to a recovery ward while the anaesthetic wears off."

Arthur breathed a huge sigh of relief. She was alright. Everything was fine. All they had to do now was be patient.

…

While they waited for Ariadne to wake up they were joined by the last person they expected. Arthur looked up when the door opened and he felt his jaw drop when Saito entered the room.

"How is she?" Saito immediately asked, concern evident on his face.

"She's fine. She'll be coming round soon." Eames answered.

Saito sagged with relief. "Good. To think that something like this could happen..."

Arthur's mouth finally started working again. "Why are you here Saito? Not that we don't appreciate it but it seems to be a bit far for you."

Saito shrugged. "I was in London for an energy conference with Fischer and the other energy company heads. This new arrangement of ours is certainly having a positive effect on the global economy. Cobb called me from the conference centre and I came straight here." His face grew serious. "Arthur, Mr Eames, if there's anything I can do to help you have only to ask. I will do everything within my power to find the people responsible for this."

Arthur nodded. "Thanks Saito. For now though I just want her to wake up." Over his shoulder Eames pointed to Arthur and mouthed _he likes her_ to Saito. Saito smiled.

"Of course Arthur, I understand. The offer will of course remain open indefinitely."

Any further discussion was interrupted by the doctor. "Ah, gentlemen..." Arthur noticed he seemed agitated. He had a sudden sense of foreboding as the doctor opened and closed his mouth, trying to speak.

"What is it, man?" Saito asked, his authoritative voice causing the doctor to shut his mouth.

"Acc... according to the blood tests, there is no more anaesthetic left in her system, but..."

"But what?" Arthur demanded.

"She won't wake." The doctor bowed his head. "According to her readouts she seems to be in a coma. It must have been the shock of the attack."

Arthur didn't know what to feel. It was as if a great hole had opened up inside him. "Can we see her?" he heard himself asking in a hollow voice.

The doctor nodded and led them to the room where Ariadne had been moved. As soon as Arthur entered the room he gasped at the sight before him.

Ariadne was lying on the bed, bandages around her upper chest, an oxygen mask on her face and an IV drip going into her arm. If it wasn't for the ventilator pumping up and down beside her, she might well not have been alive.

_This can't be happening,_ Arthur thought, _Not to her. Not now!_

The doctor left them in the room. As soon as the door was closed, Arthur went quickly over to the bed, collapsing to his knees next to it, not caring that Eames and Saito were also present. He grabbed her hand in both of his and buried his face in it.

"Please Ariadne," he whispered, hoping that somehow she could hear him, "Please come back. We need you. _I_ need you."

Eames said nothing. He just stood by the door and silently added his own plea for Ariadne to wake up. Saito bowed his head, possibly praying to whatever gods he worshipped. There was nothing else they could do.

…

"Hello?"

She was in a wide open area. It looked like it went on forever. Ariadne was walking on what felt like sand.

"Is there anybody there?"

As she looked around her she realised she was in some sort of depression. She could see the walls rising up. It looked like it was some sort of crater.

"Arthur? Eames? Anyone?"

"What are you doing here?" Ariadne span round at the sound of the voice. It couldn't be! But it was. At the edge of the depression, underneath what looked like a stone archway, was a figure she well remembered. The hair was the same, the black dress with it's thin straps was exactly as she recalled from her trip to Cobb's subconscious.

"Mal? You can't be here! How are you here?"

Mal smiled tightly as she walked down to where Ariadne had stopped. "Dom had his subconscious memory of what Mal was like. Why shouldn't anyone else? Why shouldn't you? I'll ask you again. What are you doing here?"

"I... I was shot..." Ariadne stammered, still not quite believing what was happening.

"I know that, silly girl." Mal snorted in contempt. "I mean why are you here, now? You didn't have to come on this job. You could have refused when Arthur came to see you."

Ariadne had no answer. Instead she pleaded with Mal. "Please, I just want to go home. I want to wake up."

Mal nodded. "I know. And I might be able to get you home. But I need you to give me a reason why I should help you." She raised her hand, which, Ariadne saw, held a gun. "Of course," she continued as if discussing the weather, "I could just shoot you now. And don't think that shooting you would wake you up. You're in a coma so it may kill you for real." Mal motioned with the gun. "Why should I help you wake up?"

Ariadne thought hard and the sky flashed with images. Her father, the university, lectures. Mal tilted her head back and watched them cross the sky. She shook her head.

"Your studies? Your father? Don't make me laugh. You've been trying to run away from that life for years. And ever since you met Dom your studies haven't been enough for you. Reality hasn't been enough for you."

More images flashed across the sky. This time it was members of the team – Cobb, Eames, Yusuf, Saito, even Fischer. Again Mal shook her head in disdain.

"You think those people are your friends? As soon as the job was done they dropped you. They left you behind to get back to your empty life. They didn't need you. They abandoned you."

Ariadne concentrated. Images of Arthur flashed into the sky. Arthur in his suit, Arthur showing her the Penrose stairs.

"So what? He's just like the others. Don't you remember how long it took before he got into contact with you? He's just using you!"

More images of Arthur appeared. Arthur giving her the necklace, Arthur and her having coffee in London, Arthur and her in the hotel on the Fischer job, _Quick, give me a kiss..._

Mal finally looked back at her, an expression of something like wonderment on her face. "So that's it. You think you're in love with him. You think you know what it's like to be a half of a whole?"

"No... it's not that..." Ariadne whispered.

"Then what is it?" Mal asked, raising her voice.

"I... I want to know what it's like. I want to know what it's like to be a lover." Ariadne felt that this was her last chance.

Mal smiled and nodded. "Yes, I can see that you do. Very well, you've convinced me." Ariadne breathed a sigh of relief. "Just one thing," Mal added.

"What's that?" Ariadne asked, fear suddenly filling her.

"I lied." Mal raised her gun and shot Ariadne between the eyes.

…

Ariadne's eyes flew open. She was lying in a hospital bed. She could feel the oxygen mask around her head and a weight on one of her arms. Her first thought was to use her free hand to remove the mask. Then she looked at her other hand, her eyes finally coming into focus. She smiled when she saw Arthur holding her hand tightly in his, his head resting against her arm, asleep. She squeezed his hands and he opened his eyes. They widened when he saw her.

"Ariadne?" His voice was quiet, as if scarcely daring to believe it.

"Arthur, I'm here, I'm back."

Arthur threw his arms around her and hugged her tightly.

"Careful," she laughed, "It's still a bit painful!" She made no move to stop him though. Instead she returned the hug, holding onto him as if she was scared that if she let go she would fall back into a coma.

After a few minutes she released him and finally noticed Eames standing by the door. He came forward and gave her a slightly less fierce but no less sincere hug.

"Don't scare us like that again OK?" he said to her. She laughed and nodded. Her eyes grew wide when Saito came near.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Ariadne. I've already said this to your friends but if there is anything you need, anything at all, you have only to let me know." Ariadne nodded, not sure what to say.

Arthur moved back next to her and took her hand again. "Ariadne, I'm sorry but this is important. Can you remember what happened? Can you remember the man who shot you?"

Ariadne tried to think back to the night before but, to her horror, she found she couldn't. It was as if there was a blank spot between getting back to her hotel room and waking up in the hospital.

"Arthur," she said, sounding distressed, "I can't! I can't remember anything about it!"

"Sssh. It's fine, it's fine." Arthur squeezed her hand, "It'll come back. The main thing is you're alright."

Ariadne smiled and lay back on her bed. Her eyes slowly drooped closed and she slipped off into a dreamless sleep. Eames and Saito grinned at each other and quietly left the room.

Arthur stayed by her side, never letting go of her hand.

* * *

**A/N As if I would kill off Ariadne!**

**Oh yeah, the chapter "Faking It" referenced Hustle, a UK series about a team of conmen (predating Leverage I believe). In the episode in question they were conning a mark through his love of the movies. And the last chapter was obviously Left 4 Dead. Who says you can't have any fun in your work?**

**This chapter's reference is a kids' TV series from 2004.**

**See you soon  
**


	6. Point Of Vanishing

**Disclaimer: Inception, its characters and the actors playing those characters are not owned by me.**

**Point of Vanishing**

Ariadne was released from hospital three days later. The hotel she had been staying in was bviously no longer safe and so Arthur spent some of the intervening time looking for a new place for them to lie low. It just so happened that Saito owned one of the top hotels in London and he was more than willing to accommodate the trio. He arranged for the hotel to appear fully booked when in reality it was closed to the public and staffed by only a few hand-picked individuals.

Arthur requested three rooms on the top floor of the hotel and, once they were ready, randomly selected three different rooms on the middle floor – he put himself and Eames in rooms next to each other and Ariadne in a room across from his. They had no luggage to bring aside from their equipment and managed to settle in quite quickly. Arthur did have to hand it to Saito though, this really was one of the best hotels he'd ever stayed in. He made a note to himself to come here again when things were sorted out and no-one was trying to kill them.

…

According to Arthur's watch it was approaching one o'clock in the morning. He wasn't sleeping. Instead he was sitting on the end of his bed, waiting. He wasn't worried about being attacked – Saito had this place locked down very tight, and anyway they were all using false identities. Instead he was waiting for something else.

At twenty minutes past one Arthur heard what he was waiting for. Screaming coming from the room opposite him. No sooner had he heard the first sounds than he leaped up from the bed and out of his room, crossed the short distance to Ariadne's room and barged in.

As he had expected, Ariadne was screaming at the top of her lungs and twisting and writhing in her bed. She was still asleep and Arthur knew that she was having a nightmare about what had happened. He quickly sat down on her bed and grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Ariadne! Ariadne, wake up!" he shouted, trying to break through her nightmares.

She eventually did so, sitting bolt upright, her eyes wide and scared. When she saw Arthur she burst into tears. It was the first time Arthur had ever seen her cry.

"Arthur, oh Arthur!" She buried her face in his arm, sobbing for all she was worth. Arthur rested his hand reassuringly on the back of her head, stroking her hair.

She looked up at him. "I saw him. I saw the man who shot me," she said.

"Do you know who it was?" Arthur asked gently.

Ariadne shook her head. "No! I couldn't make out his face. It was too dark. I... I couldn't see it."

The sound of a throat clearing made them look towards the door. Eames was leaning against the doorframe. "Sounds like your mind has suppressed the memory. It'll probably come back in time but..."

"But what?" Arthur demanded, not in the mood for any games.

Eames sighed. "I for one don't want to spend the next few weeks or months looking over my shoulder or jumping at shadows."

"So what do you suggest we do then?" Arthur's voice was quiet.

"Well, the answer's simple enough," Eames took a deep breath before speaking his next words, "We extract it from her."

"What?" Ariadne asked, her jaw dropping.

"Eames, no! You can't be serious!" Arthur protested.

Eames shook his head as he addressed Ariadne. "Look, your subconscious has buried that memory and it's buried it deep. The only way we can be sure to get it is to go in and find it. It's just like any other job."

"Except that this time it's not some mark we don't know!" Arthur turned to Ariadne. "Ariadne, your whole mind would be open to us. We could see anything in there. You wouldn't be able to hide a thing."

Ariadne nodded. "I know. And I want to try." Seeing Arthur's expression she continued, "I have to know who did this to me. I don't want to have any more nightmares."

Eames stood up from the door frame. "I'll get the case."

"What, now?" Ariadne asked, but she wasn't really surprised.

Eames nodded. "No time like the present darlings." He left the room for a few moments and came back with the familiar silver case. As they were setting up he explained what he had in mind.

"I'll be the dreamer. I have something I can put together quickly. Nothing complicated. We go in, we get what we need, and we come out again." He looked at Ariadne. "Last chance to back out. Do you still want to go through with this?"

Ariadne nodded. "Let's get this done."

Eames checked that they were all ready and pushed the button.

…

They were standing in a normal looking suburban street with houses on either side. The sky was dark and gloomy. Eames pointed to the nearest house.

"OK, inside one of these houses is what we need. I have no idea which house it is though."

Arthur nudged Ariadne. "Look at the projections."

Ariadne's subconscious projections were walking along the street, huddled together. The air was heavy and in the sky they could see black clouds rolling around. As the three dreamers watched, they noticed that when the projections came near some of the houses they seemed to become happier, while others made them more sombre and move closer together.

"It's like they're scared of what's in those houses!" Ariadne whispered.

"In that case I'd say our search just got a bit easier," Eames remarked. He moved to the nearest house, around which the projections seemed particularly sullen and opened the door.

What met his eyes was a scene as though viewed from the back seat of a car. A man was driving in the front and a woman was in the seat next to him. The woman appeared to be holding a map. They were obviously arguing about something but Eames couldn't make out what was being said. Suddenly there was an almight crash and the car jerked violently. Shattered glass flew in from the passenger side window. After that everything went black.

Eames slammed the door closed and turned to Ariadne in shock. Arthur was looking at her as well. She looked deathly pale. She opened her mouth but it took her a few moments to find her voice.

"When... When I was five we went on a trip to a theme park. It was my birthday and my parents' wedding anniversary. On the way we got lost and..." She took a deep breath, "And then a truck came out of nowhere and crashed into us. I was fine and Dad only got a few bruises, but Mum..." She closed her eyes, and a tear rolled down her cheek. "Dad blamed himself. He never got over it. Every year he takes out a photo of the two of them at their wedding and spends the day looking at it, remembering what things used to be like." She took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

Eames didn't know what to say for a few seconds, then he spoke. "Ariadne I'm... I'm so sorry. I didn't think..."

"No. No it's OK Eames." Ariadne forced a small smile. "I did agree to this after all."

Arthur nodded. "We'd better keep going."

As they walked up the street Arthur noticed something strange. When the projections came near to them they suddenly brightened up, and one or two even smiled at him or waved at him. "What's that all about?" He murmured to Ariadne.

"I have no idea." She replied a bit quickly. Arthur looked at her out of the corner of his eye and saw that she was blushing.

_I wonder what she's blushing for_, he thought to himself. It seemed to him as though the projections could sense that they were there to help. It was as if Ariadne's subconscious wanted them to find the secrets it held.

…

At the end of the street was a large house. It looked dark and menacing. Looking up, Arthur saw that the clouds seemed to be swirling around it like a hurricane. In front of the house was a small garden with a swing.

There was a child playing on the swing.

As they drew nearer the child, a girl, came off the swing and skipped over to them.

"You shouldn't be here," She said in a flat voice, looking down at the ground. She had, Arthur saw, long dark hair and light brown eyes. Exactly as Ariadne would look if she were a young child.

Arthur knelt down in front of her and reached out to put his hand on her arm. "We know," he said, "We're looking for something. Once we've found it we'll be gone."

She raised her head and met his eyes. "Are you here for the bad man?" she asked.

_The bad man? _"Yes. Yes we are." Arthur nodded.

The girl turned and looked at the house. "He's in there," she stated flatly.

"Thank you." Arthur stood up. As the three of them started walking towards the house the girl called after them.

"Don't worry, he's being guarded."

…

Arthur kicked open the door to the house and felt his jaw drop in surprise.

_No_ _way..._

"Hello Arthur." A well remembered voice spoke from an armchair in front of the door.

"Mal?" Arthur swallowed. "You can't be here!"

Mal stood up and walked over to them. "And why is that? Why can't she," She indicated Ariadne, "Why can't she have a memory of me? You may even have a projection of me yourself. If you bother to look deep enough that is."

Eames moved forward. "We don't have time for this. Where is he?"

"In there." Mal indicated a door in the far wall. Arthur nodded at Eames and moved to the door. He kicked it open.

He saw that he was looking through Ariadne's eyes. She was in her hotel room. Arthur could see that she was holding something, but he couldn't quite see what it was. There was a knock at the door.

"Alright, alright I'm coming!" The knocking at the door was becoming more and more insistent. Ariadne put down the object she had been looking at on the table near the door and went to open it. Arthur recognised the object as Cobb's spinning top.

Arthur was about to yell at her not to open the door when he realised it would do no good. This had already happened.

The door opened and on the other side stood a tall man in a light suit. He looked to be in his forties and had greying blonde hair tied in a ponytail and striking blue eyes.

"Yes? Can I help y..." Ariadne started.

Time seemed to slow down. The man raised his hand slowly, the gun coming up to point at Ariadne's chest. He fired and Arthur could see the bullet as it flew out of the barrel. He actually felt the impact as Ariadne was hit and sent flying to the floor. The terror and pain she was feeling nearly overwhelmed him. She reached out and set Cobb's spinning top in motion as she lay on the floor and the scene faded to black as it toppled over.

Arthur found himself breathing heavily as the door closed by itself. He turned to look at Ariadne and Eames. Eames looked like he had seen a ghost and Ariadne...

"Where were you, Arthur?" Mal's voice broke the silence. He slowly turned his head to look at her as she advanced on him. "She needed you. She trusted you. How could you let this happen to her? Where were you when she needed you? Where were you?"

Arthur turned back to Ariadne. She looked at him, tears brimming her eyes as Mal continued to taunt him.

"She thought you were her friend. She thought you would be there for her. She thought you would keep her safe! She thought..." Mal broke off as Arthur moved quickly across the room and wrapped his arms tightly around Ariadne. Ariadne in turn put her face into his chest and cried.

Arthur turned his head to look at Eames. "I think we're done here," he said quietly. Eames nodded and the floor underneath them suddenly disappeared, dropping them down into blackness and back to the real world.

…

They pulled the IV lines from their arms, hardly daring to say anything to each other. Eames quickly left the room, presumably to try and identify the shooter while the image was still fresh in his mind. Arthur sat down next to Ariadne.

"Ariadne, I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry..."

Ariadne put a finger on his lips, quieting him, then she put her arms around him. He in turn put his arms around her.

She didn't want him to say anything. She just wanted him to hold her.

He didn't say anything.

He just held her.

* * *

**A/N Nothing really much to say about this one.**

**Yesterday's chapter was from an episode of Power Rangers Dino Thunder (yes I am a big kid) where one of the rangers was in a coma and had to fight visions of himself to wake up. This chapter is another UK series.**

**See you all soon!  
**


	7. Rumours, Bargains and Lies

**Disclaimer: Inception, its characters and the actors playing those characters are not owned by me.**

**Rumours, Bargains and Lies**

"His name is Hibbs."

They were in an unused warehouse in the London Bridge area of the city. It was far enough from their previous base that they would be safe enough for a few days at least. And a few days were all they needed.

They were sitting around a table, on which had been placed Eames's laptop. The image on the screen showed a photo of a man talking on a mobile phone. Ariadne shuddered as she recognised the man who shot her. Arthur, sitting next to her, noticed this and gave her hand a quick reassuring squeeze.

Eames had put together all the information he had been able to find on the man, as well as some bits and pieces he had obtained from other sources. He pushed a button on the laptop and an Interpol profile appeared on the screen.

"It seems our man here has quite the record," Eames leaned forward in his chair as he spoke. "A professional hitman. He's been questioned by every major law enforcement agency in every major country. Every time he's been able to supply a cast iron alibi, which has been supported by a high ranking official."

"So he has powerful friends," Arthur mused aloud, his cool, calm exterior showing nothing of what he was feeling inside. Ariadne had been attacked. Arthur wanted nothing more than to find the person responsible and beat him to a pulp_._

"Wait, wait," Ariadne spoke up, her voice controlled, although Arthur's keen senses detected a slight tremor. "If he always has an alibi, how did you find him?"

Eames smiled. "Not all of us have been sitting on our backsides. While you two were having your heart-to-stone-cold-lump-of-rock last night I made some calls. Turns out Saito knows some people who have had dealings with him."

"You don't mean Saito's ever employed him?" Ariadne asked, shocked at the idea. Eames shook his head.

"No, Saito's never encountered him personally, and even if he had he would certainly never use him. That sense of honour, remember? Anyway, the point is that this man works for money and only for money. He'll turn on his employers instantly if he's offered enough."

"And I take it he was offered enough?" Arthur said.

Eames nodded. "Saito managed to find him and persuaded him to talk. Something along the lines of five hundred million pounds, I believe. He didn't know the name of his employer, that's something he never concerns himself with. Instead he gave us the details of the account that was paying him."

"And?" Arthur prompted.

Eames shrugged. "It was a dummy account of course, registered to a non-existent company. Whoever set it up didn't do a very good job of covering his tracks though. I got in touch with some old friends and managed to follow the trail to it's source. And we found something else interesting along the way."

"Is that important?" Arthur asked, "I mean, if we know who did it we should just go after him."

"Aaahhh, but it's better than that. I'm just getting to the good part." Eames grinned. "We found another payment trail from the same source. It led to yet another dummy company. Does the name Worthing Associates mean anything to you?"

Arthur tried but couldn't contain the gasp that suddenly came out. "That's the company that hired us to do the extraction from Emerson!"

Ariadne looked confused as she addressed Eames. "But you're saying that the same people that hired us for that job paid this man to kill us! Who would do such a thing?"

Eames pressed one final button then sat back. Arthur and Ariadne leaned in to look.

Arthur had never felt such anger in his life as that which now boiled in him. One look at Ariadne told him she was feeling exactly the same way.

…

The room was small, cramped, and dark, with a single door leading in and out. The only light in the room came from the cracks around the door. All he knew was that he was tied to a chair with a gag in his mouth. He had no idea how long he had been there, or even how he had gotten there.

The door suddenly opened and the bright light that came in made his eyes hurt. Through the glare he was able to make out two men entering the room. One was heavily built and the other was slim with his hair slicked back. This man came up to him and forcefully pulled the gag out of his mouth.

"Do you know who we are?" The slim man asked.

He nodded. "Of course. Who doesn't know two of the best extractors in the business."

The bigger man leaned against the wall. "You've caused us a lot of trouble, you know. Attacking our friend like that."

The man in the chair smiled. "I don't know what you are talking about."

The slim man smiled tightly. "Oh I think you do. We have a trail of evidence directly connecting you to the shooter and to the corporation that hired us for the job. You know exactly what we're talking about, Mr Karl Emerson."

…

Arthur had the satisfaction of seeing Emerson's eyes widen then, to his surprise, Emerson laughed.

"So now you want revenge. Is that it? Don't you know who you're dealing with?"

Eames shook his head. "No Mr Emerson, we don't want revenge. At least, not immediately. We just want to know why."

Emerson carried on laughing. "You people are so narrow minded. I've spent years paying teams of extractors to pry inside my mind, trying to discover my secrets. None of them ever had. I just paid them - no bad feelings, no harm done - and went on to the next team. Then you came along. Oh it was very clever, a zombie apocalypse. No one had tried that before. It was certainly the most enjoyable attempt I've ever had. I congratulate you."

"So we're the first to beat you, so what?" Arthur felt his patience growing thin.

"You still don't get it do you?. I needed to find the best extraction team I could."

"Why?" Eames had beaten Arthur to losing his patience.

"So I could eliminate you of course! With you out of the way my secrets, my little collection of dirty laundry on my competitors, would stay hidden forever." Emerson laughed again. "For the price of a few deaths I could rule the energy market! I'll bring Saito and that upstart Fischer to their knees!"

"And you're just telling us this? Just like that?" Arthur couldn't believe what he was hearing. All of this so he could get rid of them?

"Of course," Emerson smiled. "We're dreaming after all. The last thing I remember was going home in my limousine. The next thing I knew I was here. You kidnapped me and hooked me up to that blasted machine of yours. And we all know you can't record anything in dreams. Anything I say in here is your word against mine. And your word won't be around for much longer when I get out of here."

Now it was Eames's turn smile. "Mr Emerson, you're absolutely right. Nothing that is said in a dream can be recorded. Whatever happens in the dream stays in the dream." Eames's smile turned into a shark-like grin. "There's just one thing though."

"And what's that?" Emerson asked, laughing again.

"We're not dreaming." Arthur knew he would remember the expression on Emerson's face for the rest of his life. Emerson immediately stopped laughing and the blood drained from his face as the import of what he had just said sank in. Arthur looked up at the ceiling. "Did you get all that, Ariadne?"

Ariadne's voice came from a hidden loudspeaker in the room. "Every single word." Arthur thought she sounded very calm, despite the rage she must surely be feeling.

"You see, Mr Emerson," Eames moved right up to Emerson's face. "In the real world, when you kill people they die. For real. And in the real world..."

"You're finished." Ariadne's voice came over the loudspeaker and ended Eames's sentence with an obvious level of satisfaction.

"Let me be very clear about this." Arthur dropped his smile and his face became emotionless. "You do not do this to us. Ever. This we do not allow." With that he turned and left the room. Eames pulled a syringe out of his jacket and jabbed it into Emerson's arm. Emerson was still protesting as his eyes drooped and he went to sleep.

...

Eames joined Arthur outside. Ariadne soon arrived as well, holding a tape and a folder. Arthur turned to address Eames.

"Exactly like we planned. You know the drill, Eames. Take him back to his place. Tell him something comforting. This didn't take place. I repeat, nothing happened. Please remain calm. The usual spiel."

Eames bit back a retort and went to get the car ready. Ariadne turned to Arthur. "And what about us?"

Arthur smiled, the smile of a tiger approaching it's victim. "We have a delivery to make."

…

A few hours later Arthur and Ariadne were back in Arthur's hotel room, sitting side by side on the bed. Arthur breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"It's over. It's finally over."

He noticed Ariadne looking pensive and nudged her. "Hey, what's wrong. We won. It's over."

Ariadne didn't look at him. After a long moment she spoke.

"When I was... in... hospital, in a coma, I saw Mal. She... she asked me why she should help me come back."

Arthur was about to ask what she meant by that but he kept quiet, allowing her to carry on talking.

"I told her I wanted to know what it felt like to be a lover." She looked up at Arthur.

"To be a half of a whole," Arthur finished for her. He looked down. "Ariadne I..."

Ariadne put a finger on his lips in the same way she had before.

"Let's just take things slowly shall we?" she said quietly.

Arthur smiled, a warm genuine smile. "I happen to know a nice italian restaurant just up the street from here."

"Sounds good to me." Ariadne smiled back at him.

Arthur stood up and offered her his hand. She took it and held it tightly, intertwining her fingers in his. They left the room together, locking the door behind them.

…

"And our main headlines again. Police today found the body of Karl Emerson, head of Emerson Industries, at his home in Kensington. The cause of death is believed to be a gunshot wound to the head. There is no conclusive evidence at present but the police are treating the death as self-inflicted.

"Emerson's death comes after allegations of blackmail involving CEOs of other large corporations and even senior government officials. The evidence is believed to have been delivered anonymously to Scotland Yard in the early hours of yesterday morning. The investigation continues. We will of course bring you the latest updates when we can.

"Financial news now, and the value of shares in Fischer Energy continue to rise at an astronomical rate. The shares of Saito Industries also rose significantly today, but it seems that Robert Fischer's new philosophy of progress through a competitive market is paying him, as well as his peers in the energy industry, enormous dividends.

"And that is all from the Ten O'Clock News for this evening. We wish you all a very good evening."

* * *

**A/N Sooo... did anybody see that coming? I looked back over the earlier chapters and I found a couple of things that may have indicated who was behind it. For example, Eames said that absolutely nothing could be found out about Emerson, yet the team just happens to stumble onto his love of zombies movies - if that was indeed genuine.**

**And yesterday's chapter referenced Lewis - a UK detective series. One of the characters in one of the episodes had a car crash much like the one Ariadne's father had.**

**Anyway, one more chapter to go. Thanks for sticking with me up to now.  
**


	8. Happily Ever After

**Disclaimer: Inception, its characters and the actors playing those characters are not owned by me.**

**Happily Ever After**

"You may now kiss the bride."

Arthur gently pulled the veil back over Ariadne's head, away from her face, and caught her lips in a tender kiss. He could somehow tell exactly what she was thinking. He was thinking exactly the same.

_It was worth the shot._

They pulled apart and smiled at each other. Arthur's mind flashed back to the day he asked her to marry him.

…

It was Ariadne's birthday. They had returned to Paris and Arthur had promised to take her out to dinner at one of the best restaurants he knew. It was nearly time for them to leave and now he was waiting for her to get ready. He had bought her a new dress for her birthday, making her vow to wear it that evening.

Arthur felt in his suit pocket for the small box he had been hiding for the past few months. He had everything planned out perfectly. A fine meal at a top restaurant, a walk along the river, then he would get down on one knee and ask her to marry him against the Paris night sky. She of course had no idea about any of this.

Perfect.

"Arthur, I'm ready now!" Ariadne called from the room and Arthur stood up from his chair. The door opened and Arthur felt his breath leave his body.

She was indeed wearing the dress he had bought her. It was a sheer black dress that almost came down to her knees. The top of the dress slanted down across her chest, bunching up slightly as it approached her waist. She was also wearing the necklace Arthur had bought for her birthday last year, it's simplicity complementing the dress more than anything more elaborate ever could. On her chest, just above the dress, he could see a faint scar, a reminder of the time he had nearly lost her forever, and it only made him love her the more.

Her dark hair fell in soft wavy curls to frame her face. She had added a touch of eyeshadow and lipstick to complete the effect.

Arthur had never seen anything more beautiful in his life. And in that moment, he knew all his carefully laid plans had flown out of the window.

Arthur walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace, kissing her fiercely. She returned the kiss just as passionately, closing her eyes as she felt his lips on hers.

After a few minutes she pulled her face away. "I thought we were going out," she said.

Arthur shook his head. "Maybe later. There's something I want to do right now." He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out the small box. He opened it and held it up to her. She gasped as she saw what was inside and looked at him with shining eyes.

"Ariadne, will you marry me?"

Ariadne smiled, then grinned broadly. "Yes! Yes, oh Arthur yes!"

Arthur laughed and placed the ring onto her finger. He then kissed her again. And again, and again.

"I love you," Arthur said.

"I love you too," Ariadne replied.

They never did go out.

…

Arthur laughed to himself. He had managed to convince Cobb to be his best man, a position Cobb gladly agreed to. James and Phillipa were sitting next to their grandparents. Miles was smiling like a proud father. The others were also present – Eames, Yusuf, Saito – and every one of them was smiling broadly. Eames wolf whistled when Arthur kissed his new wife.

Not everything had gone according to plan however. One of Miles's students was a keen pianist and he had been invited to play at the wedding. He was something of an experimentalist and he had arranged for some of his friends, who together formed their own rock band, to accompany him. At the last minute however they had to pull out as the bass guitarist had been in a car accident. He was fine but he would be in hospital for a few days. Miles convinced his student to play at the wedding though and he did so as Arthur and Ariadne led the procession out of the church, oblivious to everything but each other. A thought suddenly struck Arthur and it made his mood sombre.

Ariadne looked at Arthur and saw his brooding expression. "What is it?" she asked.

"What if this is all a dream? What if none of this is real?" Arthur asked.

Ariadne smiled at him. "What if it is? If this is a dream then I for one never want to wake up. If it's real then I never want to dream again. Anyway," she winked at him. "If this is a dream and we do wake up then we can get married all over again!"

Arthur laughed and leaned down to her for another kiss.

After all, life is but a dream.

**THE END**

**

* * *

****A/N Title drop! Seriously, this is just a short epilogue to finish off.**

**Many thanks to all of you who read this story and alerted/favourited/reviewed/etc. If you enjoyed this why not have a look at my other stories (especially if you're Harry Potter fans). Right, enough self advertising.**

**The dress Ariadne wore when Arthur proposed to her is based on the dress Ellen Page wore at the world premiere of Inception in Leicester Square - I hope I did some justice to it but go have a look anyway.**

**Anyway that's it for the moment. See you all around!  
**


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